Sea Quest Kayak Expeditions - Sea
kayak trips to the world's premier whale watching waters.
Our company has been operating sea kayaking trips
for eighteen years and our two founders bring a combined 40+ years
of professional kayaking experience to the program.
Our home base is located near Friday Harbor on San Juan Island,
in the protected Puget Sound waters of Washington State near Seattle.
Friday Harbor is a tiny town that is easily reached by ferry or
scheduled air flight from Seattle and other nearby cities in Washington.
Friday Harbor is the gateway to the sheltered waterways of the San
Juan Islands, an ideal area for beginners to have their first experience
with sea kayak tours. Even so, skilled paddlers
will find enough challenges and dynamic conditions to be attracted
to the San Juan Islands.
Sea Quest Kayak Expeditions is the leading operator
of kayak tours in the San Juan Islands, home to
nearly 100 orca whales, also known as killer whales. We offer half-day
and full-day kayaking trips to the primary orca whale viewing area
off the "Whale Watch Park" (Lime Kiln State Park). This
whale-watching park is located on the west side of San Juan Island
and is the only location in the San Juan Islands where whales can
be reliably seen on a day tour. Many other outfitters advertise
the possibility of seeing whales, but unless they kayak
along the shores of Lime Kiln Park, their chances are severely reduced,
usually to zero.
We also offer camping kayaking adventures of two,
three and five days to the outer San Juan islands. These trips are
designed to carefully follow the main feeding and traveling routes
of the orca whales, thereby maximizing chances for orca whale watching.
Apart from the west side of San Juan Island, there are only a couple
of other islands within the archipelago that afford chances for
kayak campers to see orca whales, and these will
be our destination. Our private Orca Camp is strategically situated
right on the killer whale route and shelters our guests from the
over-crowded public campgrounds other companies are forced to use.
Although we may not see orca whales on every single trip, we will
do our best to show them to you, and we will take you to the best
places possible that conditions allow. No other outfitter comes
close to our record of success! Other marine creatures that we see
on nearly every sea kayak vacation are Dall's porpoise,
harbor porpoise, harbor seals, river otters, mink, bald eagles,
and amazingly colorful tidepool communities. The list of occasionally
seen animals includes minke whales, humpback whales, Steller sea
lions, California sea lions and northern elephant seals.
Our sea kayak guides are biologists and environmental
scientists so they will make sure that you see the most and learn
as much as your curiosity desires. They are gifted naturalists,
teachers, camp cooks, and trip leaders who have dedicated themselves
to continually improve their skills. Our sea kayak
guides undergo the most rigorous and lengthy training program of
any outfitter on San Juan Island. In addition to the experience
they bring, our guides must spend two full weeks in our own intensive
kayak guide school. Most other outfitters in this
region spend one to three days at most in preparing their guides.
Experience the thrills and tranquility of a sea
kayak trip for your next adventure vacation - if you've seen one
Earth, you've seen them all!
